Women’s Athletic Program Wins MIAC All-Sports Title

Gustavus Adolphus College has captured the 2006-07 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women’s All-Sports Award. For the Gustie women, it is their fifth All-Sports Award in the last seven seasons. The traveling All-Sports Trophy is awarded annually to the institution that accumulates the best all-sports record during the MIAC academic year. Saint John’s University won its second consecutive Men’s All-Sports Title and 14th overall championship, while Gustavus finished third behind the Johnnies and St. Thomas.

Gustavus won the MIAC Pat Wiesner Women’s All-Sports Award, beating out second place University of St. Thomas by one point (104-103). The Gusties captured three team titles and five second place finishes in 2006-07. The Gusties won team championships in hockey, swimming & diving, and tennis and added seconds in volleyball, golf, basketball, outdoor track & field, and softball. Carleton College placed third (88.5), while Concordia and Saint Benedict tied for fourth place with 74 total points.

Gustavus posted 81 points in the race for the George Durenberger Men’s All-Sports Trophy. The Gusties won or shared MIAC titles in tennis and soccer and finished second in golf and swimming & diving. Saint John’s swept the fall sport championships (golf, cross country, soccer, and football) and added a team title in outdoor track & field in the spring to beat out beat out second place University of St. Thomas by 13.5 points for the title (96.5 – 83). Saint John’s total of 96.5 points is the highest total for a men’s team since the new All-Sports Award scoring format was implemented in 2003-04. Bethel University (67.5) and St. Olaf College (65.5) rounded out the top five.

The MIAC All-Sports trophy had its beginning in the 1963-64 school year, when Bob Schabert, who, at the time, covered the MIAC for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, began determining men’s all-sports results. The current men’s trophy, the George Durenberger Trophy, was donated by Saint John’s University beginning in the 1972-73 school year. On the women’s side, the Pat Wiesner Trophy, was donated by Macalester College beginning in the 1983-84 school year, a year after women’s sports competition began in the MIAC.